The 100 Most Overrate Events of the 20th Century

As Voted by You, the People of the Web

(Survey begun on 25 November 1998 and completed on 27 March 1999)

The most overrated events of the 20th Century, numbers 53 through 100:

53. 1981: Debut of MTV (20 pts.)
54. 1905: Battle of Tsushima (19 pts.)
55. 1921: Sacco and Vanzetti tried for murder in Boston (19 pts.)
56. 1962: The Vatican II Council (19 pts.)
57. 1972: Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate is burglarized (19 pts.)
58. 1953: Playboy Magazine is first published (19 pts.)
59. 1959: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper are killed in plane crash (19 pts.)
60. 1967: TV: The last episode of "The Fugitive" (19 pts.)
61. 1977: TV: Last episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" (19 pts.)
62. 1986: At the last minute, the Boston Red Socks lose the World Series (19 pts.)
63. 1911: The Triangle Shirtwaist fire (18 pts.)
64. 1991: The Gulf War (18 pts.)
65. 1959: Barbie doll debuts (18 pts.)
66. 1976: TV: "Gone With The Wind" parody on "The Carol Burnett Show" (18 pts.)
67. 1963: Martin Luther King tells everyone at the Lincoln Memorial that he has a dream (17 pts.)
68. 1989: USA invades of Panama (17 pts.)
69. 1996: A sheep is cloned (17 pts.)
70. 1908: A mysterious fireball explodes in the sky, Tunguska River, Siberia (16 pts.)
71. 1946: New suburbs built at Levittown (16 pts.)
72. 1982: The UK and Argentina fight a war over the Falkland Islands (16 pts.)
73. 1906: Book: "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair (15 pts.)
74. 1919: The Great Boston Molasses Flood (15 pts.)
75. 1936: Jesse Owens annoys Hitler at the Olympic Games in Berlin (15 pts.)
76. 1946: Film: "It's A Wonderful Life" (15 pts.)
77. 1953: First climbing of Mount Everest (15 pts.)
78. 1956: Sex Symbol: Brigit Bardot (15 pts.)
79. 1959: Sex Symbol: Marilyn Monroe (15 pts.)
80. 1972: Ms. magazine is first published (15 pts.)
81. 1987: Stock market crashes (15 pts.)
82. 1989: The wreck of the Exxon Valdez (15 pts.)
83. 1995: Cal Ripkin plays his 2131st consecutive game (15 pts.)
84. 1911: The successful expedition of Roald Amundsen to the South Pole (14 pts.)
85. 1943: Book: "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand (14 pts.)
86. 1952: TV: "I Love Lucy" (14 pts.)
87. 1970: The Beatles break up (14 pts.)
88. 1988: Book: "Beloved" by Toni Morrison (14 pts.)
89. 1916: Margaret Sanger crusades for birth control (13 pts.)
90. 1926: Gertrude Ederle swims the English Channel (13 pts.)
91. 1927: Charles Lindbergh flies across the Atlantic (13 pts.)
92. 1941: Sex Symbol: Rita Hayworth (13 pts.)
93. 1959: TV: "Bonanza" debuts (13 pts.)
94. 1980: The US hockey team beats the Soviet at the Olympics (13 pts.)
95. 1981: Musical: "Cats" by Andrew Lloyd Webber (13 pts.)
96. 1916: Book: "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" by James Joyce (12 pts.)
97. 1925: John Scopes is put on trial for teaching evolution in Tennessee (12 pts.)
98. 1956: Elvis Presley releases "Heartbreak Hotel" (12 pts.)
99. 1957: Book: "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand (12 pts.)
100. 1972: Invention: Videogames (12 pts.)
101. 1973: Film: "The Exorcist" (12 pts.)
102. 1980: MS-DOS ® is released (12 pts.)
103. 1983: TV: Last episode of "MASH" (12 pts.)
104. 1986: Iran-Contra scheme exposed (12 pts.)

• Your votes for the most overrated aspects of the 20th Century:
  • Ranked 1-25
  • Ranked 26-50
  • Ranked 51-100
  • Broken down by decade
  • Not overrated at all (or much)
• My opinion on which are the most overrated aspects of the 20th Century
  • ... and a few underrated aspects, as well.

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Last updated October 1999

Copyright © 1999 Matthew White